Mennonites in Canada: A Pictorial Record (& Gift)

July 10, 2020 Erin Unger People 0

What can I say? Not many people read this blog… but those who do are of an incredible quality, in my opinion. Curious, brilliant, generous.

That’s how I came to be gifted with this beautiful book!

It was published in 1961 by Dr. Walter Quiring and Helen Bartel, printed at D.W. Friesen & Sons Ltd. of Altona.

It’s seen better days… but that’s certainly part of its charm, at least for me.

Here are a few of the pictures that caught my attention.

I think my great-great-(great?)-grandfather built this mill.

The caption mentions erosion. That huge hill must be soil blown in from empty fields.

I love how examples of Canadian Mennonite urbanization are Plum Coulee and Kane.

I think our condo was built on the site that used to be home to this mill.

Neufeld Garage in Randolph!

After A.D. Penner gleefully tore down Steinbach’s last remaining housebarn.
I just love this photo.

Camp at Horse Creek. Wait, do they mean DEAD Horse Creek? Weird that they dropped the “Dead”. Also, at the same time I was sipping cider named for the same creek. Cool.
Menno Bible Institute, Disbury Alberta. Looks pretty sparse!
Famous Steinbach teacher — this is the first time I’ve seen a photo of her!

Mitchell!

I appreciate how the introduction clarifies that this is NOT intended to be a pictorial history or complete inventory of all things Mennonite in Canada. I also appreciate how they’ve avoided grouping the Mennonites into categories of any sort. This is a record depicting what was (and what was history) in 1961.

I’m so grateful for this gift!